Category — Brandy

Ah Valentine’s Day, that special holiday when couples spend money and singles spend time alone.  Whichever boat you’re in this year, you might as well add a naked lady to the mix.

Despite the name, the Naked Lady cocktail is actually quite sophisticated, and an inexpensive Valentine’s date.  It’s  an aperitif with elements of the aromatic (vermouth), the sweet (grenadine, apricot brandy) and the sour (lemon juice).  The result is a well-balanced cocktail with a name that’s sure to up your street cred, like when you tell your friends about your evening at home with five, maybe six naked ladies.

Ingredients:

1 2/5 parts Bacardi Superior Rum
1 2/5 parts Noilly Prat Rouge Vermouth
1/5 part Apricot brandy
1/5 part Pomegranate Grenadine
1/5 part Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Lemon zest

Shake all ingredients until very cold, and double strain that baby into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with the lemon zest.

With Thanksgiving nearly upon us and a slew of other holidays on the horizon, it’s time to pull out cocktails that you don’t make any other time of the year.  Drinks with ingredients like pumpkin puree and vanilla liqueur are acceptable and downright tasty during the judgment-free holidays, when festiveness trumps sensibility.

The below cocktail recipes utilize some seasonal flavors as families everywhere gear up for the holidays with a drink in hand.

Pumpkin Egg Nog

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces Appleton Estate Reserve Rum
1/2 ounce Navan vanilla liqueur
1 ounce egg nog
1 ounce pumpkin purée
4 dashes Angostura bitters
1 bar spoon real maple syrup

Shake all ingredients with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Optionally, add a topper of whipped cream.

Apple Pie Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 ounce white rum
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
1 teaspoon Applejack brandy
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grenadine

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Maple Leaf

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces bourbon
1/2 ounce real maple syrup
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

Shake all ingredients with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass.

Apple Pie Martini

Ingredients:

2 ounces apple cider
1.5 ounces Navan vanilla liqueur
1 ounce vodka
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 pinch cinnamon

Shake all ingredients with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Sprinkle cinnamon on top.

The Singapore Sling was invented around 1910 by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon at the Raffles Hotel’s Long Bar in Singapore.  And like many classic drinks, the recipe was lost decades ago, resulting in bartenders scrambling to make an interpretation of the original ever since.

Because this recipe is often misrepresented by bars and in recipe books, most drinkers have never had the original Singapore Sling, regardless of what they ordered.  So to continue that trend, below is the cocktail currently served at the Raffles, per a recipe card published by Drinkboy. Based on memories of former bartenders and scattered notes thought to be left behind by Ngiam Tong Boon, here’s hoping this is a close approximation to the original.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 ounce gin
1/2 ounce Cherry Herring
1/4 ounce Cointreau
1/4 ounce Benedictine
4 ounces pineapple juice
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/3 ounce grenadine
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice, and strain into an ice-filled Collins glass. Garnish with a cherry and slice of pineapple.

Like so many good tiki drinks from the glory days of Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron and Don the Beachcomber, the Fogcutter dwindled into obscurity for decades.  But after its turn languishing in obscurity, this drink has again begun to appear on select cocktail menus across the country.  Or course, in true cocktail fashion, very few recipes are the same.

The below recipes come from your friend and mine, Dr. Cocktail, and his book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails.  This booze bible lists two recipes for the Fogcutter, with the earlier version of the two going something like this:

Ingredients:

1/2 ounce orgeat
2 ounces Bacardi Gold Rum
1 ounce Pisco Brandy
1/2 ounce Plymouth Gin
1 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
2 ounces fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce cream sherry

Shake all ingredients except sherry with ice and pour into a chimney glass.  Float the sherry on top.

Another version of the Fogcutter, found below, is the preferred recipe of famed bartender Tony Ramos, an original bartender at Don the Beachcomber.

Ingredients:

1 ounce white rum
1/2 ounce gin
1/2 ounce brandy
1/2 ounce sweet and sour mix
2 dashes simple syrup

Combine all ingredients with ice and blend.  Pour into a goblet and float some cherry-flavored brandy on top.

You might notice the ample amount of booze packed into this drink.  To quote Trader Vic himself: “Fog Cutter, hell. After two of these, you won’t even see the stuff.”

Once every month cocktail fanatics band together to create a booze-soaked collection of recipes for Mixology Monday.  Our hosts for this month are the guys at eGullet, who chose “Dizzy Dairy” as the theme.  From Chris Amirault of eGullet –

Any drink using a dairy product is fair game: milk, cream, eggs, butter, cheese, yogurt, curds, you name it. Given the importance of dairy products in drinks dating back centuries, there are lots of opportunities for digging through vintage receipts for a taste of the past, and as always innovation is highly encouraged.

I’ve long enjoyed adding egg whites to cocktails as a means of justifying my drinking.  After all, who can’t benefit from some extra protein?

The Apple Blow Fizz is a cocktail that combines an egg white, fresh lemon juice and apple brandy.  It’s a veritable cornucopia of health foods, all rolled into one.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces apple brandy
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 egg white
1 teaspoon sugar
Club soda

Directions:

Shake all ingredients except club soda with ice, and strain into a highball glass over ice.  Top with club soda.